Dear Millers — today we’re training our gaze on the city’s past. Our Tuesday read is by Brian Groom, a longtime Miller and former assistant editor of the Financial Times, who was born and raised in Stretford and now lives in Saddleworth.

His epic new book Northerners: A History, from the Ice Age to the Present Day is published this week by HarperNorth. We asked him to write about Manchester’s history — and its future promise.